Free book - Amazing Opportunity

Jeff Goins is giving away his ebook FREE today!  To get your copy, click here

This book correlates to his Great Writers series that I have been highlighting here which goes into the 15 Habits of Great Writers.  Tomorrow is the final day of the series but now you can have a copy to refer back to after the series is over.

I bought a copy of his book at the beginning of the series and have read it already, but I plan to refer back to it in the future.  This book contains valuable information, hints, and references that can be used at any time.

So, what are you waiting for?  Download your copy today.  It's free!

Fabulous Blog Ribbon

Andrea Teagan at The Enchanted Writer  presented me with this award earlier this week.  Thanks Andrea!

In order to accept you must:

1. Post the rules on your blog.

2. Name five of your most fabulous moments, either in real life or in the blogosphere.

3. Name five things you love.

4. Name five things you hate.

5. Pass the ribbon on to five other bloggers. (Leave them a comment to notify them of their win.)

Okay. Here we go!

5 Most Fabulous Moments

1.  My first car
2.  Going to St. Basils Cathedral in Moscow and other great travel experiences
3.  Owning my own home
4.  Seeing Poison after waiting for over 20 years
5.  A Superior rating on my 12th grade solo

5 Things I Love

1.  Sleeping in without the dog waking me up
2.  Uninterrupted time to read and write
3.  Mountains of North Carolina - Can you tell my vacation starts in less than 2 weeks?
4.  Animals - particularly whales, dolphins and dogs (weird combination, I know)
5.  Nature

5 Things I Hate

1. Ignorance
2. Being cold
3.  Mornings, alarm clocks
4.  Politics this time of year
5.  Traffic and crowds

Now to pass this award on...

1. Suzanne Furness at The Word is...
2.  Scribbles From Jenn
3. Mina Lobo at Some Dark Romantic
4.  Crystal at The Heart of a Writer
5.  Gossip_Grl at Whatever

Day 14 - Brand

It's Day 14 of Jeff Goins' Great Writers series.  I can't believe there is only one more day.  This challenge has been so helpful to me.  What about you?  If you have been following, I would recommend signing up for Jeff's mailing list or Join his community on Facebook.  Jeff offers ongoing advice and resources for writers.

Today is all about finding a Brand for yourself, a way to Market Yourself

Jeff says that the truth is you already have a brand; you just need to decide to do something with it.

Why everyone has a brand

He explains that a brand is exactly what it sounds like. It’s an impression you leave on the customer or reader’s mind, a mental imprint. And we all have them.

You’ve likely heard about the importance of first impressions; our culture is full of them. This is a form of branding — the belief that people get an idea in their minds of our personalities based on an experience.

A brand is the simplest, most memorable part of yourself you can give.

The challenge

Brand yourself. There are three elements of every brand that you need to pay attention to

Name. This is what you call yourself (e.g. Copyblogger or Anne Lamott). It may be your given name or a pseudonym or something else, but you need to be consistent. Make sure your website, business cards, and social media properties all say the same thing.

Image. This can be a logo or a headshot. It’s whatever you want to use to make people recognize you and your work. If it’s a photo of you, make sure people would recognize you in real life if they’re seeing it on the Internet. Also, make sure it’s on your blog, Twitter profile, etc. Don’t use different images; make them all the same.

Voice. This is how you sound. It’s your style and personal flair as a communicator. If you aren’t confident in your unique writing voice, go through these 10 steps to find it.

I have a lot to do in this area.  When I started my blog 6 months ago I had no idea what I was doing.  The name Random Interruptions was  a name that I thought sounded fun and sounded like my writing. 
As I have gone along, my writing has become a lot less random.  I am happy about that fact, but I thing I need to do some work on branding.  I have started to feel more comfortable in certain areas and I need to concentrate on being more consisent and a little less random.

What about you?

PhotoPrompt Monday

Photo submitted by Susan at thecontemplativecat

The boxes were unpacked and Amanda decided it was time to do some exploring.  Jordan had been quiet during the move and she knew he had a lot on his mind.  Some fresh air would be good for them both.

As they walked down the street of their new town, Jordan stopped on the bridge looking in the water. 

"What are those?", he asked, watching the fish splash below.  Jordan was fascinated by their bright orange, black and white colors.

"Those are Koi", she answered solemnly.  Koi were the symbol of love and prosperity.  After the divorce, she was left with a child and not enough money to care for him.  How were they going to make it?

"Can we go see them?", Jordan asked.

"Sure, honey", she said, trying to shake off her hopeless feeling.

As they walked down to the water, they saw a man about Andrea's age carrying a small child in one arm and a picnic basket in the other.

"Hi!", the man smiled as they got closer.  Andrea looked into his deep blue eyes and felt as if she could see the entire world.

"Hi", she answered shyly.

"I'm Sam and this is my daughter, Eva", he said bouncing his daughter in his arm.  "You must be new around here."

"Yes, I'm Andrea and this is my son Jordan", she said, looking down to avoid those eyes.  "We just moved here from the city.

"Well, Jordan", Sam leaned down.  "Would you like to feed the Koi?"

Jordan nodded his head slowly as Sam reached in his basket, pulling out a bag of bread.

"This is their favorite", Sam said as he held out the bag.  "Eva and I come here every afternoon to feed them.  It has been the only thing to keep her mind off of her mother moving away last year."

Andrea watched Sam interact so natually with Jordan, thinking to herself that maybe Koi do bring love and prosperity.



Day 13 - Publish

Today is Day 13 of Jeff Goins' Great Writers series and today's topic seems to be the ultimate goal:  PUBLISH

Jeff reminds us that great writers are great not because of talent, but because they possess one crucial ingredient that the rest of us lack:

Perseverance

They know how to stick things through — to push hard and achieve a goal and move on to the next project.

Mostly, though, they understand that until they publish their work, until other eyeballs are on it, it might as well be invisible.

The amateur approach

The amateur doesn’t understand this. We struggle with this discipline of sharing our work. All because of the most potent enemy of art: fear

We’re afraid of many things: failure, success, responsibility, expectation, rejection, misunderstanding, and more. So we sabotage ourselves. Because hiding from the limelight is more comfortable than actually doing work that earns attention.

It’s time to stop that. Make no mistake: An artist doesn’t create for accolades. But if you’re going to do work that matters, at some point it’ll need to get noticed in order to have an impact.

Jeff wants us to Stretch ourself

He's not talking about another blog post or essay saved to your laptop (although, those are good places to start). It’s time to move onto the next risk.

He's talking about a feature article or book or something better. Something that stretches you, something you’ve been waiting for permission to release.

The best part? You get to pick the project. Just make it count. Chances are it’s whatever you’re most afraid of.

The challenge

Today he wants us to publish something. Anything, really.

Send off the manuscript in your dresser drawer, the article you've been thinking about writing for an A-list blog, or that eBook you've been stalling to finish.  Put it out there.
You’ve done great work; time to share it.

If I had something prepared to submit for publication I would do so today.  However, I don't.

Instead I am going to go through the local paper to look for a way to contribute.  I know there is SOMETHING I can write about that would hold people's interest so I am going to figure out what that is and write it.  It might not be today, but it will be soon.

What about you?  Do you have something ready to submit for publication?



My So-Called Teenage Life

Today is the My So-Called Teenage Life Blog Hop

June 21, 2012

hosted by Christa Desir & Amy Sonnichsen

Step One: Sign up on the linky below

Step Two: Dust off those old sappy journals or high school notebooks filled with bad poetry*

Step Three: Skim through them until you find something share-worthy

Step Four: On June 21 POST IT on your blog

Optional: We all love seeing old photos, so if you have one lying around of you as a teen, post that, too.

We'll all be hopping around peeking into each others private teenage lives on June 21. Can you imagine a better way to spend the first day of summer?

*Didn't write in a journal or compose poetry as a teenager? Have no fear! Counterfeit entries are welcome! Pretend you're a teenager and write whatever you feel. Just make sure you're using your teenage voice.

And if you're still a teenager, hey, you're going to basically rock this blog hop.

School was a buzz that morning and I felt as if all eyes were on me.  What was going on?

“Hey, I think Bill wants to ask you out”, Teri said.

“What?”, I asked dumbfounded.  Bill and I had been friends for the past couple years along with a few others in our immediate clique.  I had never even considered a romantic relationship with him, partly because of my age and partly because I was just a naïve tomboy.

As our friends started to gather, Bill came up to me more nervous than I had ever seen him.  His request was about as romantic as our relationship.  “Do you want to go out to a movie Saturday night?”, he swallowed hard as the words came out of his mouth.

“Uh, sure”, I answered not really knowing what I was saying.

For the rest of the day I tried to wrap my head around this thought.  I had no idea he considered me anything other than his tomboy friend.   This needed some consideration.  I don’t even know how to act!

As I approached my parents, they quickly shut down the potential.  “You know you can’t date until you’re 16”, they both said sternly, without any thought.  I was only 6 months away!  They never did like Bill.  They didn’t understand him.  They didn’t really know him.

“But why?”, I cried.

”Because we said so.  You’re not old enough”, they said as if there was some magic button that parents push to give you these lines?  It just came no naturally.

When Saturday night came around, instead of going on my date, my parents decided a nice family trip to the mall would make up for it.  UGH!  Another one of their rules during my childhood was that I couldn’t get my ears pierced until I was 16 either.  After showing them the racks and racks of pierced earrings compared to the little, teeny section of clip-ons they finally let me get my ears pierced that night. 

By the time I turned 16, Bill and I were still close friends.  We went out a few times but it never amounted to anything.  My ears, however, are still pierced.

Day 11 - Provoke

Today is Day 12 of Jeff Goins' Great Writers series and today's topic:  PROVOKE

Jeff reminds us that writing is an art and all good art pushes buttons. It pokes and prods, makes people uncomfortable. This is why writing makes a difference.

Stop playing it safe and provoke us, already.
Jeff says that if you’re going to be a great writer, you’re going to have to shake things up. Maybe even break a few rules.

He gives us a few ideas:
Tell the ugly truth.
Pick a fight with something that’s wrong with the world.
Call yourself out.
Make a giant confession.
Take a risk.
Write something dangerous (something you’ve never written before)
Write something that gets under our skin, that tests our nerves. Provoke us.

Why do we do this?
To get people out of their comfort zones so they can grow
To set others free.  To live freely and honestly
The challenge
Take a risk. Write something provocative and stand by it. 
Write something bold, something that moves us.

This is going to take some thinking on my part.  I have to admit it scares me a little to think of doing this on purpose.  I do have some controversial feelings about things but I don't usually write about them.  It takes guts!  So I am going to have to suck it up and just do it.

What about you?